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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 1981)
t The Battalion Viewpoint August 12,1981 Slouch By Jim Earle ‘Can you see any reason for him to identify with me?’ The inside moves By JERELYN EDDINGS United Press International WASHINGTON — A few days after the House approved Ronald Reagan’s budget cuts last June, a Democratic leader said it would be no great task for the president to get a tax cut. >, Everybody loves tax cuts. Every politi cian loves to give people money. So the only uncertainty was the shape it would take and whether Democrats could offer a more appealing tax cut than Reagan’s. The big question then was whether the budget cuts would actually reach the enact ment stage or whether House Democrats would find a way to derail the administra tion’s push to take big chunks out of federal social programs. The answers to those questions — budget and tax — now are known. The wheeling, dealing and appealing by the President and his men to get their bills finally approved are a new page of legisla tive history. But the role of a few Democrats in the final days of budget-cutting was crucial to preserving many of the traditional Demo cratic programs. They didn’t stop the cuts ;— although one was powerful and secure ;enough to threaten something akin to de railing the Reagan express. * Most of them worked in private, using .the negotiating skills that brought them power and success in Congress over the years. £ Once the budget bills were passed by ;both the Democratic-dominated House ’and the Republican-controlled Senate, the tssue became reaching compromises over ^details of the spending reductions. - That’s where the horsetrading experi- 3ence of veteran House chairmen came in -handy. It helped that they were pitted against the new Senate Republican chair- inen, many still learning their jobs. «• At first, the administration was leary of bringing House and Senate together under Circumstances in which the Democrats -might possibly delay or destroy the budget Cuts. * David Stockman, Reagan’s budget dire The Battalion US PS 045360 MEMBER LETTERS POLICY Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in Editor Angelique Copeland le , n f h ’ , an t d £ re Subject ‘° hfifg cnt tf they are longer. The r ,. Tp... To R r editorial stali reserves the nght to edit letters for style and ^ „ j? r ~ ' ‘i! 1 * rus length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s Photo Editor Greg Gammon intent Each letter must also be sj d show the address Sports Editor Ritchie Pnddy and phone number of the writer Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff Make-up Editor Greg Gammon Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are StaffWriters Bemie Fette, Kathy O’Connell, not subject to the same length constraints as letters. Denise Richter, Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Cartoonist Scott McCullar Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. EDITORIAL POLICY The Battalion is published Tuesday, Wednesday and The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper Thursday during Texas A&M’s summer semesters. Mail operated as a community service to Texas A&M University subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 per school and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Bat- year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on talion are those of the editor or the author, and do not request. necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M Universi- Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Build- ty administrators or faculty members, or of the Board of ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Begents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes United Press International is entitled exclusively to the within the Department of Communications. use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. should be directed to the editor. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. Going in diplomatic circles By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Last week marked the end of President Reagan’s first 200 days in office. The period closed with a presidential victory on tax legislation, but some of his critics are saying Reagan has yet to develop a cohesive, overall foreign policy. They say the Reagan style thus far has been more a reaction to international events than the creative use of diplomacy to shape the world’s course. I didn’t get much sleep last night and consequently don’t feel peppy enough to explore the validity of these allegations spe cifically. I do, however, feel up to passing along a few general observations that may be applicable. It is almost axiomatic in this town that the first step a president must take toward molding a good, solid foreign policy is to establish diplomatic relations with the State Department. The department is relatively small, sure, and its capital, Foggy Bottom, is beset by miasma and terrible humidity. It has little to contribute to mutual defense, its own security forces being barely strong enough to prevent the Soviet ambassador from us ing a private entrance when he comes calling. In influence, though, the State Depart ment ranks right up there with the major powers. The secretary of State, as Alexander Haig keeps telling us, is the vicar of foreign poli cy. A president may follow a two-China policy and get away with it. But any presi dent who adopts a two-vicar policy is asking for trouble. The last president to try it was Richard Nixon. While formally recogizing Secretary of State William Rogers as his foreign policy vicar, Nixon actually gave vicarious support to the White House’s own Henry Kissinger. Ht'.ulan. I’m Mire, can strike at; I deal if lie plavs Ins cards right. Hi; I™ alliance that may be attainablen|T cated during the early hours aftertk dent was wounded in an attemptedi nation. j|^| Haig, you 11 recall, went to I House and expressed a willingness] in during the emergency and runi country, in addition to his otherl That display of friendly appears to bode well for future n between the president and the ^ partment. A return to the two-vicar system^ entirely ruled out, however. As we now know, the two-vicar concept didn’t work out well at all. Fortunately for him, Nixon was able to negotiate a merger between Kissinger and the State Depart ment. But peace hung in the balance for awhile. Vice President George f made points for himself with hisr to the Philippines. His astutepert democratic tendencies by the Mar ernment astonished everyone ^ — particularly Marcos. . A few more discerning mission] sort could put Bush in a positioiili lenge Haig for the vicarage. of federal budgeting ctor, counseled the Senate to avoid a huge conference committee and simply accept the original House bill. But Senate Repub licans, led by budget chairman Pete Dome- nici, R-N.M., said “No way.” Theirs was the better bill. And House Democratic leaders promised they wouldn’t delay the measure. So the conference began. About two weeks later, on July 30, it was over. But in that brief time period, the Demo crats made great gains, saving many prog rams that will merely be streamlined rather than terminated. There werfe people like Rep. Carl Per kins, the soft-spoken Democrat whose speech is punctuated with whistles and whose Kentucky mountain mannerisms have been known to deceive his adversar ies. Perkins, chairman of the House Educa tion and Labor Committee, rescued mil lions of education dollars in the conference meetings. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the short, wily chairman of the House health subcommittee, threw up his arms numer ous times and said he couldn’t compromise with Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Robert Dole, R-Kans., on health cuts. In the end, he won many concessions on prog ram changes that Reagan wanted in prog rams like Medicaid. The big, open power play threat came from Richard Bolling, the self-assured chairman of the key Rules Committee which must clear virtually all bills for con sideration on the House floor. Bolling, D-Mo., threatened at the last minute to hold up the entire budget-cutting package unless the $122 Social Security minimum monthly benefit was restored. He was talked out of it by other House leaders, who recalled their earlier promises to avoid obstructionism. They may also have reminded Bolling of his own past posi tion that the Rules chairman should not use the committee to thwart the will of the ma jority. There were many touchy moments, a few threats, and several close calls. But the President got his budget cuts — with some Democratic touches. Not e\ seniors from g< Univi they wi granting tion Eaj compel it lease tlu the Texa I “We totally si sue the Chancel B. Bond the proe ments t( Expect a baby boom in the late < A head] sity and th in Austin, Jerry Del decision t to the Eaj The m By LeROY POPE United Press International NEW YORK — There will be a new baby boom in the United States in this decade that will cause some serious conflicts for government, business and individuals, according to a new Arthur D. Little survey. The study is called “The Impact of De mographic and Lifestyle Trends on Con sumer Spending in the 1980s. ” It deals with a lot of other things but demographic expert Judith Campbell’s baby boom prediction raises some of the most interesting ques tions. She says the new baby boom will not be caused by any change in fertility rates but simply by the fact that there will be more women of childbearing age in the popula tion. The first question raised is what effect this will have on the still-growing trend for both spouses to hold down jobs. Campbell says she simply doesn’t have an answer to that yet, but it certainly will create conflicts for many young women. For local government, the 1980s baby boom may be big enough to create over crowding in a diminished number of schools and compel emergency expansion. For business, it may prove a corrective to consumer demand declines resulting from the end of the earlier baby boom of the 1950s and early 1960s. This means, Camp bell said, that marketers may have to shift their focus to an older market in this de cade, then be prepared for a younger mar ket in the 1990s. But products for babies may do well late in this decade. Elsewhere in the study, consumer be havior specialist Ellen I. Metcalf predicts some gradual but radical changes in mar keting. She says consumers will have less discretionary time and less discretionary in come in the years ahead and this will force segmented and sharply targeted marketing with less reliance on mass media advertis ing and mass merchandising outlets. Cable television and video systems and specialized print media will get an ever in creasing share of advertising. The consum er’s tight discretionary time needs will force her or him to do more buying via telephone or new communication methods. This will produce a conflict between oriented towards individualism amii facturers and marketers who 1p| going all out in recent years form® keting. “The name of the game will bet* audiences through targeted media* targeted product,” said Metcalf. Another and possibly more serif flict between business and coff- Metcalf said, will arise from thed# tion of people to “do their own thM though they have less money an^ devote to it. “This means they will take up that can be mastered easily, sorndj or close to home, and will give! satisfaction quickly.” She mention^ ging, racquet ball as distinguish^ tennis and said there are manyotk hobbies and pastimes people This will make them sales resi st much of today’s leisure advertisirL All of these tendencies, she said,*' up to a climate in which it will bed! market nationally branded mercl# Warped By Scott McCd huh f? wH/rr?? ( GOOD GRIEFi IN K1 10 O'CLOCK CLASS- •A HOW DID X GET HERE? I DOAf^T EVE A/ REMEMBER GEIJ1NG U£ THIS HORNING. AT LEAST I'M DRESSED. DID IT EVE A/ LOOKS LIKE I'VE TAKEA/ /VOTES FROM Ml «AVD 1 o'clock classes, i woa/der IF I WAS IN THEM? MA/Y, MERRITT UN NINOS HEfiU BEING CONFUSED IY TK P Know a/ as "moRWi/zs", fr ATTENDING A CLASS ^ THE TWILIGHT!^ MO Roll i 1C FRI Bf Fit
